Accession (2008-0235) (49 items; 3 lin. ft.; dated 2008) includes 49 traditional darkroom prints by photographer Petra Barth (16x20 inches, gelatin silver) of everyday life in El Salvador. Consists of portraits of people in the country and towns, in their homes, working the land, fishing, collecting water, cooking, minding children, and going to market; also includes landscapes.

Accession (2010-0209) (50 items; 3 lin. ft.; dated 2006-2010) includes 50 exhibition-quality darkroom prints (16x20 inches, gelatin silver) of life in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Areas represented include Bolivia; Patagonia, Argentina; the Bahamas; Foz do Iguaçu and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; El Salvador; Guatemala; Martissant, Cité Soleil, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Nicaragua; Ciudad del Este, Paraguay; and Cusco, Peru. Includes images of people working, cooking, traveling, and resting. Several portraits feature people in traditional dress. The largest group of images was taken in Haiti, where Barth returned following the 2010 earthquake. These photographs include scenes of people among the rubble in Martissant and Port-au-Prince, as well as some portraits of hospital patients. Arranged alphabetically by country.

Accession (2012-0126) (2 items; dated 2012) includes two videos (MPEG-4 files),Exclusion Zone Chernobyl and On Location in South America.

Accession (2014-0101) (189 items; 6.0 lin. ft.; dated 2009-2013) comprises 189 exhibition-quality digital black-and-white prints measuring 16x20 inches, from three bodies of work by Petra Barth: images of migrants, migrant services, and desert crossing locations, at or near the border shared with Mexico and Arizona (57); images of Bolivian highlands life and culture (40), including a UNESCO heritage Carnaval celebration in Oruro; and images of abandoned and inhabited landscapes and buildings surrounding the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine (92). This accession is also accompanied by digital files of all the images.

Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

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This large series (two accessions, 2008, 2010) comprises 99 exhibition-quality gelatin silver prints of life in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Prints measure 16x20 inches. Areas represented include Patagonia, Argentina; the Bahamas; Foz do Iguaçu and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; El Salvador; Guatemala; Martissant, Cité Soleil, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Nicaragua; Ciudad del Este, Paraguay; and Cusco, Peru. Includes some portraits, as well as photographs of people working, cooking, traveling, and resting. Several portraits feature people in traditional dress. The largest group of images was taken in Haiti, where Barth returned following the 2010 earthquake. These photographs include scenes of people among the rubble in Martissant and Port-au-Prince, as well as some portraits of hospital patients. Arranged alphabetically by country.

Accession (2008-0235) (49 items; 3 lin. ft.; dated 2008) includes 49 traditional darkroom prints (16x20, gelatin silver) of everyday life in El Salvador. Consists of portraits of people in the country and towns, in their homes, working the land, fishing, collecting water, cooking, minding children, and going to market; also includes landscapes.

The 92 black-and-white digital prints portray various sites surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in what is now Ukraine, abandoned after a catastrophic breach in April 1986. Locations include abandoned cities and towns (Pripyat is among the most well-known) and other sites in the exclusion zone, inhabited towns outside the exclusion zone, and the exclusion zone visitors' center. Included are many portraits of resettled refugees; squatters; and visitors to the areas. Prints measure 13x19 inches.

Petra Barth was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1964. She originally studied design in Milan and worked for many years in the fashion industry. In 1999, fulfilling a lifelong ambition, she became a full-time freelance photographer working primarily in Latin America and Asia. She has since won several awards and has exhibited her work throughout the United States, including at Duke University.

Locations where Barth has worked as a photographer include Argentina, the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Europe, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, the Ukraine, and the United States.